Film Reviews
The Three Kings review – saluting Busby, Shankly and SteinSaturday, 07 November 2020
If Shakespeare had lived in post-war Britain, he surely would have dramatised the careers of the three towering contemporaneous Scottish football managers whose visions of how football should be played and its importance to ordinary people left a greater impact on the nation’s selfhood than any 20th century political... Read more... |
Queen of Hearts review - Trine Dyrholm stars as a stylish sexual predatorFriday, 06 November 2020
“Alice had not a moment to think about stopping herself before she found herself falling down a very deep well. Read more... |
Luxor review - Andrea Riseborough stars in cathartic drama about healing old woundsWednesday, 04 November 2020
Zeina Durra’s sophomore feature arrives on our screens a decade on from her debut, The Imperialists Are Still Alive! It was worth the wait. Read more... |
Relic review – a deadly disappearing actSaturday, 31 October 2020
The bleak power of the Australian horror movie Relic, Natalie Erika James’s feature debut, derives from its masterful use of a simple metaphor. Read more... |
The Witches review – new take lacks magicFriday, 30 October 2020
A long shadow looms over Robert Zemeckis’ new take on Roald Dahl’s classic 1980s book The Witches, starring Octavia Spencer, Anne Hathaway and newcomer Jahzir Bruno. Read more... |
Mogul Mowgli review - displacement and generational traumaThursday, 29 October 2020
When Mogul Mowgli was first announced, it was fair to expect something of a realist biopic. After all, you had documentary director Bassam Tariq and actor/musician extraordinaire Riz Ahmed helming a film about a British-Pakistani rapper. Read more... |
Shirley review - hothouse art film about American horror writerThursday, 29 October 2020
Shirley is one of those films that the mood you’re in when you watch it will dictate whether you think it’s a great psychological horror movie or overheated and pretentious. Read more... |
The Secret Garden review - blooming charmingSunday, 25 October 2020
With Netflix releasing Rebecca on Wednesday, who’d have thought that a kid’s film would be this week’s best adaptation about an estate haunted by the memory of the deceased lady of the manor? Read more... |
Rebecca review - mishap at ManderleySaturday, 24 October 2020
When it was announced that Ben Wheatley would be directing a new version of Rebecca, his fans must have wondered what kind of exciting damage he would do to the neo-Gothic template of Daphne du Maurier’s 1938 novel – and how he might spin the material in a different way than did Alfred Hitchcock... Read more... |
One Man and His Shoes review - beautifully crafted, fast-paced documentarySaturday, 24 October 2020
“Black people, since the beginning of time, have always made things cool. Jazz, rock ’n’ roll… pick anything from a cultural standpoint and we have always been the arbitrators of cool,” says sports journalist Jamele Hill. “And it was really no different with sneakers.” Read more... |
Summer of 85 review - a tender, tragic coming-of-ageFriday, 23 October 2020
Intriguingly, Summer of 85 could have been François Ozon’s very first film. Read more... |
Cordelia review – Antonia Campbell-Hughes and Johnny Flynn star in an off-kilter tale of traumaFriday, 23 October 2020
There's something deeply uncanny about Adrian Shergold's Cordelia. When the film's poster was released on social media, many mistook it for a kinky period drama with the power dynamics reversed. It definitely isn't a costume drama, but there's some kink. Read more... |
Raise Hell: The Life and Times of Molly Ivins review - a fitting tribute to a political hellraiserFriday, 23 October 2020
It’s a brave film distributor who releases a documentary about an American journalist in the UK at the best of times, let alone in the middle of a pandemic, so first salute goes to Eve Gabereau at Modern Films for giving Raise Hell a proper launch. Read more... |
Bruce Springsteen's Letter to You, Apple TV+ review - his new album is a matter of life and deathTuesday, 20 October 2020
Towards the end of this new documentary, an account of how he recorded his new album Letter to You at his home studio in New Jersey, Bruce Springsteen delivers a eulogy to the E Street Band. Read more... |
LFF 2020: Nomadland review - Francis McDormand gives a career-defining performanceTuesday, 20 October 2020
Chloé Zhao’s The Rider was a film of rare honesty and beauty. Who would have thought she’d be able to top the power of that majestic docudrama? But with Nomadland she has. Read more... |
Ronnie's review – fascinating story of the fabled Soho jazz clubMonday, 19 October 2020
Ronnie Scott was a remarkable man: “Jazz Musician, Club Proprietor, Raconteur and Wit, he was the leader of our generation,” reads the memorial to him at Golders Green Crematorium. Oliver Murray’s documentary film Ronnie’s is an affectionate and portrait of him and of the jazz club he founded. Read more... |
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